DHAKA: Al-Qaeda fighters captured the capital of a province in southern Yemen, killing about 20 soldiers, before they were driven out by the army late on Friday.

Local officials and residents said, The Straits Times publishes this report on Saturday.

The fighting came hours after suicide bombers killed 137 people in the national capital Sanaa, in coordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, an offshoot of Al-Qaeda that controls swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Clashes also took place in the country’s north on Friday between local tribes and the Houthi militia, which controls Sanaa, illustrating the wide-ranging nature of Yemen’s security crisis.

Yemen has been hurtling towards civil war since last year when the Houthis, who belong to a sect derived from Shia Islam, advanced from their northern heartland, further undermining the country's tenuous internal security and creating more space in which Sunni group Al-Qaeda can operate.

BDST: 2102 HRS, MAR 21, 2015